Welcome to Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire — Hell on Earth for Animals and Animal lovers!

Voice for the Voiceless Animals Foundation

6 min readJul 20, 2022

In the beautiful settings of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, widely known for its gorgeous nature, there is an industry that you dont want to be a part of supporting — gruesome “tick boxes” animal testing of cosmetics, chemicals, and pesticides, approved by the UK Government.

huntingdon cambridgeshire labcorp envigo marshall bioresources MBR impex

Beagle dogs / puppies Are Tortured on Your Doorstep in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire

MBR Acres, in Wyton, outside Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire is owned by Marshall BioResources, a global supplier of animals for biomedical research and animal testing. A factory farm where mothers are kept and forced to spend their entire lives as puppy-producing machines, allegedly churning out a total of between 1,600 and 2,000 offspring for medical testing each year.

Their puppies will be taken from them and sent away at around 16 weeks old. They’ll be piled into crates carelessly and transported to laboratories, where they’ll be forced to inhale pesticides, fed toxic chemicals, or deliberately given heart attacks — before being killed and cut apart.

Some of MBR’s clients are labratories like Covance, now Labcorp Drug Development, here in in the heart of Huntingdon. Another one, Envigo with 20 locations across North America and Europe, and also Sequani based here in the UK, in Ledbury, outside Birmingham.

Footage, taken at Covance Labcorp in Harrogate, Yorkshire UK

The footage, taken at Labcorp in Harrogate UK, shows beagle puppies who were taken from Marshall BioResources Acres, being loaded from unmarked white vans, by masked workers.

The 16 weeks old puppies are taken into a building from which they will never return alive. Within those walls, the puppies will endure immense suffering by ‘scientists’, undergoing frightening and painful experiments that can involve being force-fed chemicals for up to 90 days, with no pain relief, before finally being killed.

A hidden and box ticking exercise, generating millions in income for Labcorp shareholders.

If you did not know before hand — most of the products you use on a daily basis are owned by a few giant corporations: L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, Clorox, Johnson & Johnson, S.C. Johnson, Colgate-Palmolive, Reckitt Benckiser, Church & Dwight, Unilever, and Henkel. They all test on animals, even though there are sophisticated alternatives out there, using lab grown human cells and tissues (also known as in vitro methods), which usually take less time to complete and are much more accurate since they are based on humans and not other species like dogs for example. But old habits are hard to break. Read more about the alternatives here.

huntingdon cambridgeshire labcorp marshall bioresources MBR impex

Experimenters often administer drugs, pesticides, or other toxic chemicals by gavage — this means they insert a force-feeding tube down the dog’s throat so chemicals can be pumped into the stomach on a daily basis for up to 90 days. Instead of receiving love and affection, these dogs will experience side effects such as vomiting, tremors, and raised temperatures. At the end of the test, experimenters will kill and dissect the dogs.

The Camp Beagle: Protesting 24/7 at the front line of Marshall BioResorces (MBR) Acres in Huntingdon

The early days

The camp started with a few animal lovers protesting at the site once a month. After a long day of activism, one woman simply sat down and said she could not leave the site. Heartbroken and overwhelmed, she declared that she could not — in good conscience — walk away, knowing she was leaving behind animals destined to suffer and ultimately die. First, one friend agreed to stay and keep her company. Gradually, other animal activists joined. Soon, tents were pitched at the side of the main road outside the company. Next, portaloos and a shower were installed, it grew naturally larger and larger. There have never been anything like Camp Beagle in relation to animal rights issues before, since it just keeps on growing and spreading across the nation.

The Aim Is Simple: Shut It Down!

The goal is to shut this facility down and, by extension, put an end to animal experimentation. The campaign has generated celebrity support from the Singer Will Young, actor Ricky Gervais and actor Downton Abbey actor Peter Egan, who uses his popular Twitter account to urge fellow Brits to sign an anti-vivisection petition that would amend the Animal Welfare Act to include laboratory animals. Peter Egan is quoted in the Mirror as lamenting, “The machine-like conveyor belt delivers man’s best friend into a toxicity testing laboratory…“

Will Young in Huntingdon Cambridgeshire — MBR / Marshall Bioresources acres

EU & UK Law on animal testing

Despite the existence of modern alternatives to animal testing, UK law still requires all new medicines to be tested on two live mammals, one of whom must be a large non-rodent. This is before a potential new drug is tried on humans. The ultimate aim of protesters is to change that law and toss animal testing into the garbage dump of history. Hence, Camp Beagle.

While Britain is no longer part of the European Union, there are still obvious cultural connections. The EU claims it wishes to end what many increasingly believe is an outdated practice in an age of modern technology and microbiology. However, many of us remain extremely sceptical. Even as Camp Beagle grew into a village of its own this summer, the EU Parliament was voting to create an action plan to phase out animal experimentation in all 27 of its member nations. We still do not know what this so-called ‘action plan’ is.

What can YOU do to help?

You are more than welcome to come visit Camp Beagle in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire to see the awful industry by yourself, as well as talk to us, how you can help us put an end to all the horrific animal testings in the UK. You voice and presence matter to the MBR dogs and puppies in need!

Please sign the petition — Ban commercial breeding for laboratories. Implement reform to approve & use NAMs

At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament. Please sign & share to your friends and family. Together we can make a difference. Together we are strong! Together for the animals.